Lady Grace

Member

Rank 10

776 Posts

May 2016

OCE has decided collectively to vote for Map 7, which is notable because it has the Alpine Forest (Hrothi), but as with all OCE maps there is only one Hrothi biome so there is no Rocky Mountain Steppe (Hrothi) biome.

The three Duchies are shown below: only one has snowy moutains, one has hills ... but the third is actually very flat, and honestly looks more like Lower Montaine than anything alpine.

Which begs the question: where (and how) do Hrothi live in Alpine Forest biomes, especially if they don't even have a mountain in their Duchy? Do they have wood resources, but no iron or stone in such an area?

Conceptually, the Hrothi have clearly been designed with the Mountain Steppe as their defining biome ... without that existing at all on OCE, will the tribe lore and attributes be different on OCE?

Just a reminder:

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/game/hrothi

Sharing a lineage as Proto-Neran, the Hrothi share many characteristics with their neighbors, the Neran. ... Their eyes are typically varying shades of brown, ranging from light to dark, a nod to their Proto-Neran ancestry, but a mismatch to their upbringing in the deep caverns of the Mountain Steppe.

As residents of the subterranean world, .... They also have a hard time reaching objects, riding larger mounts, and they cannot wield many large objects.

During this Fracturing, the early Tribe of Mann fled in multiple directions in order to escape some unknown enemy or ailment. Some of the Proto-Neran headed to higher ground, traveling up to where the air was so thin and the trees so dense that no one, or nothing, could follow them. Others headed south, into the broad-leaf forest and took shelter within the trees themselves. And yet others still burrowed deep within the mountains that bordered the temperate steppes, creating a home and economy for themselves in the security and safety of the timeless stone. Over countless years, from a time before written record through to the present, those Proto-Neran who fled into the mountain have become the Hrothi.

The OCE Hrothi did not retreat into the Mountain Steppe, because on OCE there isn't any. Given there are not even proper mountains in 2/3rd of the OCE Hrothi biome, are they even a primarily subterranean tribe? Why are they short if they live in the forest?

Stormbreaker

Member

Rank 12

1290 Posts

December 2016

Hrothi do not need to live within the mountain, many live on the surface. The idea they have to live inside the mountain is a misunderstanding. Besides, that biome clearly has a large amount of mountains and even those hills appear to be high enough that there would be settlements within it, entire counties don't need to be mountainous 100%, only the settlements would tend to evolve where the mountains and large hills are. The very small amount of flat area is probably farming Hrothi mainly. I don't see a problem.

Gunnlang

Member

Rank 10

3021 Posts

May 2016

Would love more info on this. Been wanting more info on Hrothi in general for ages now. Hard to know how flat that one duchy looks. All around the edges still looks like steep mountains. So could just still be tunnels all under it. Just not in the normal, seeing a massive mountain and know there are heaps of Hrothi running around it. Would love some dev input on this.

Snipehunter

Designer

807 Posts

September 2017

Posted By Stormbreaker at 03:39 AM - Tue Nov 13 2018

Hrothi do not need to live within the mountain, many live on the surface. The idea they have to live inside the mountain is a misunderstanding. Besides, that biome clearly has a large amount of mountains and even those hills appear to be high enough that there would be settlements within it, entire counties don't need to be mountainous 100%, only the settlements would tend to evolve where the mountains and large hills are. The very small amount of flat area is probably farming Hrothi mainly. I don't see a problem.

Indeed; the Hrothi live both above and "below" ground, with many settlements incorporating large farming areas on the surface for wheat and other surface crops. A Hrothi settlement can exist anywhere though they feel it is most proper when their city is in a mountain or within rolling hills. In a mountain valley or plain the Hrothi are likely to settle above ground first, and then delve into the terrain beneath their settlement once it is established to build their city proper.

Mechanically, if there is no mountain for a Hrothi settlement, expect to find surface Hrothi structures that are mostly agrarian in nature, as well as a structure that will act as a gatehouse for the entrance to their subterranean dwellings.

AlteOgre

Member

Rank 7

291 Posts

March 2018

... impying the apparently present mountain plateau in that south-eastern duchy an ideal site for the Hrothi 'breadbasket' and the mountain ridge to the west and massif to the north perfect places for other resources, structural defences and hideouts.

LieseLikely

Member

1 Posts

November 2018

It's certainly an interesting concept to have the (essentially) Dwarven race living in a biome without a lot of the key regional features that define Dwarven culture. I hope we get concept art and video to clarify what these above-ground settlements would look like.

Labbe

Member

Rank 10

1190 Posts

October 2018

Posted By LieseLikely at 3:09 PM - Wed Nov 14 2018

It's certainly an interesting concept to have the (essentially) Dwarven race living in a biome without a lot of the key regional features that define Dwarven culture. I hope we get concept art and video to clarify what these above-ground settlements would look like.

I would try to not link the tribes of Elyria with typical mmo races as that will give you some predispositions towards them that very well may not be true.

The Hrothi really only mirror traditional dwarves in that they are short and good with stone, both actually results of their cave dwelling.

Welkin

Member

Rank 7

2 Posts

May 2016

Posted By Snipehunter at 4:19 PM - Tue Nov 13 2018

Mechanically, if there is no mountain for a Hrothi settlement, expect to find surface Hrothi structures that are mostly agrarian in nature, as well as a structure that will act as a gatehouse for the entrance to their subterranean dwellings.

Hope that helps! :)

Mechanically speaking, it'd be interesting to understand what the requirements are for a subterranean dwelling to exist so that we can understand how the Hrothi would live in flatter environments.

It seems unlikely that a Hrothi community would live entirely overground unless it offered benefits that outweighed being underground. Indeed, from what Snipehunter says, it sounds as though there would typically be some sort of a connection to a subterranean environment through a gate and a settlement would be have an underground environment at its roots.

Then if a subterranean settlement can only be made where there are mountains/large hills, there will probably be a large centralised community at these mountains and a gradual decrease in density towards the flat areas. However, if a subterranean settlement could be made anywhere, communities could be much more distributed across the land in both hilly and flatter environments.

Where buildings can go might also have an impact on the architecture we see to an extent...